Lost Yorkshire views of the Beatles acting naturally on display

ICONIC images of the Beatles which lay forgotten in a photographer’s loft for nearly half a century have gone on display in Liverpool.

The photos show John, Paul, Ringo and George in unguarded moments while visiting Yorkshire, rehearsing on stage, smoking in their dressing room and relaxing with drinks and snacks.

They were snapped by Paul Berriff after he was given unlimited access to the band just months before Beatlemania gripped the world.

After that, security was so tight around the Fab Four that just a handful of authorised photographers had access to the band.

The shots were taken at venues such as the ABC Cinema in Huddersfield, the Odeon, in Leeds and the Apollo, in Manchester, at a time when Mr Berriff was working as a 16-year-old editorial assistant on the Yorkshire Evening Post, in Leeds.

He began taking photographs in his spare time, going backstage at venues, capturing images of the up-and-coming band and their devotees.

Some 38 black and white shots of the group on tour with singer Helen Shapiro, taken between 1963 and 1964, were yesterday unveiled at the Beatles Story at Pier Head in Liverpool.

Mr Berriff said: “I started to root around in my attic and I found this box of about 800 negs (negatives) and in it were shots of these old pop groups in ’63.

“I was absolutely knocked out when I saw the quality and realised I should do something with them.

“I feel that the photographs are coming home to Liverpool and the Beatles Story is the most fitting place to have the images on show.”

“The iconic images, put together for the Beatles Hidden Gallery exhibition, were almost lost forever.

“I went on to become a photographer for the Yorkshire Evening Post and the negatives went into a box in my loft, which is where they stayed for 47 years,” said Mr Berriff, a BAFTA award-winning photographer and documentary maker.

“I recently took up photography again and that’s how I came to unearth them. In fact, when we moved house to Bedale in North Yorkshire they were outside in the pouring rain for a while, so it’s remarkable they survived.”

Managing director of The Beatles Story Jerry Goldman said: “They are very revealing photos as they picture the Beatles in unguarded moments fooling around, sharing a snack and relaxing and I’m confident that our visitors will love them.”